Task 7. Looking back at your preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Looking back at your preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

1. Preparation and Planning

Planning our preliminary task and our main task there was a difference in the amount of work we had to put towards to each one.
The preliminary task was our first shooting assignment; most of us were not very familiar with using a camera and how to shoot shots so we were given guide lines to follow. We were given a script for our actors to read, it told us how to set up our filming equipment. We were given a choice where to film, we chose the class room. The guide lines made it easy for every group to do this task because it told us what to do.
The preliminary task was quicker to produce. Instead of planning our shoot day (when, where, what angles, what props) like our main thriller task we were given a media lesson to go off in our groups. We had to find two actors around school to take part in our preliminary task. So when it came to planning we had very limited time which evidentially ending with us making up the shots as we went along by using examples from the guide line sheet. This meant that we had to think up different shots, decide how to arrange the scenery and work out how to interpret the storyboard in our own way.
With our main task a lot has changed in terms of preparation and planning. It took ages at first to come up with an idea, we all went down separately in our group and wrote a idea down which was roughly about a page long, we then returned together and pitched them to one another and this was really helpful because it gave us four different options and it also helped us to get to our final idea. Once we had our final idea we could then move onto the planning of producing our thriller. We had to look into the location; the actors, the shoot days, the time limit, the script and this took a lot more time than the preliminary task. If we had planned our main task in the same time period as the preliminary task we would have ended up producing another amateur piece of work like the preliminary task.
As this was the main task preparation also took longer than the preliminary task because our main task was part of our exam so we took care that everything we needed was there. Our shoot days were shot off campus, it was crucial that we had all the equipment and props we needed with us and we come out with some successful shots. Luckily it all went according to plan due to our good preparation. Our second shoot was shot on campus so it wouldn’t have been as much of a disaster if we had forgotten anything, but again we had everything we needed with us and everything went well.

2. Development of your film-making skills

In the preliminary task we were all given a storyboard to follow with a basic story line already set out for us. This gave room for some interpretation but with everyone focusing mainly on the technical side of the task due to everyone being only just introduced to it, it meant it gave everyone little time to develop a good story to be told visually rather than with dialogue.
Between the filming of our preliminary task and our main task we had learnt a lot more about film-making during lessons and we gained more knowledge of what to put in our main task. I think that the fact we had a lot more time to concentrate on our story board for our main task meant that we had a much higher chance to produce a better piece of work that had a visual narrative.

3. Use of camera

Comparing the preliminary task with our main task it was easy to see that we had become more familiar with the camera and we had a lot more shots to choose to use in our task. In our preliminary task we were all fairly new to the camera and with the short time limit we were only able to produce four of five shots maximum which understood after a small introduction. It was also easy to tell that with more experience we could have made those shots better if we were to re-do our preliminary task now I very much think it would be shot with a more professional angle to it.
Our main task is a good example to show how we have improved in terms of camera work. At the beginning of the year we weren’t aware of the different shots and the rules behind them. However now that we have learnt about such things as the framing for eye line matches, 180 degree rule and use of close ups we were able to use a lot more in our main task which as a result would make it look more visually appealing and interesting to watch that was better quality.
The shots we used in the preliminary task were basic and made the sequence altogether rather slow and jumpy to watch. In our lessons we have learnt how to decide on what shots would be best to use in each part of our main task and which would make the sequence flow better and look more professional.

4. How you use of sound has developed

The sound in the preliminary task was very basic, consisting of just dialogue and the background noise of the room. This was because when editing our preliminary task it again was new to most of us so we didn’t feel comfortable to start playing around the sound and we just need to focus on placing the shots together. However when it came to using sound in our main task we had a longer period of time to develop our knowledge of using sound I was put in charge of the sound a making the original score. Due to learning about the sound I was able to incorporate different sound effects which might have been a non-diegetic sound track to create an element of fear or suspense for example placing in the backing music. We also had the option of adding in sound effects that we perhaps weren’t able to achieve on our shoot day such as rain fall or passing traffic. This helped us to save a lot of time when it came to editing, instead of using a microphone to record these sounds we had samples on the computer to use instead.

5. Demonstrating your ability to master new technology

When editing our main task we used Final Cut Pro. We used this programme when we were editing our preliminary task. However at that point in time not everyone got to spend very long using the programme and coming to grips with how to use it.
We were allowed to go up to the edit suite and use Final Cut Pro on our own. This meant I had time to learn how to use the programme through trial and error, learning how to use different tools. I can say due to these both tasks I have become a lot more experienced than when I started.